In case you needed another reason to completely lose faith in humanity, allow yourself to sit through the terrifying tale of a grown man that suggested violence against the two-year-old child he called a “faggot” in Walmart.

Thirty-one year-old Katie Vyktoriah, a stay-at-home mom and blogger at AMotherThing.com, recounted the awful chain of events in a recent blog post for HuffPo. She explains that the trip to a Walmart in Davenport, Florida began like any other—her two-year-old son, Dexter, was in tow with his chosen fashion accessory for the outing: a “cute girly” lace flower headband.

Vyktoriah says she doesn’t believe her son “has a sexuality” at two years old, but encourages him to dress and act the way he chooses. Dexter’s favorite color is pink, he loves Dora the Explorer, and he often plays dress up with his mother’s skirts.

“He rocked that headband,” Vyktoriah says, indicating that the picture above was taken after he charmed a group of older women by “waving like a little pageant prince.”

Shortly after, she was approached by two giggling teenage girls who asked, “Is that a boy or a girl?” She answered, to which the girls continued to giggle.

What happened next is just as disgusting as it is unbelievable:

Out of nowhere a big booming voice rang out. “THAT’S a BOY?!” The man was overly large with a bushy beard and a camouflage shirt with the arms cut off. He had tattered shorts and lace-up work boots with no laces. I could smell the fug of cigarette smoke surrounding him, and there was a definite pong of beer on him.

According to Vyktoriah, the man allegedly stepped forward, snatched the headband from Dexter’s head, and “cuffed Dexter around the side of his head.”

After telling the man to refrain from touching her child, Vyktoriah says he “snarled at me” and “looked at Dexter with disgust” before telling her “Your son is a f*cking faggot. He’ll get shot for it one day!”

Perhaps the most troubling detail of the story is the fact that several witnesses failed to confront the man or offer support once he had left.

But right now, the fact that homophobia is so rampant, that gay marriage is still seen as dirty because homosexuals are “lesser” somehow and don’t deserve to have the same rights as straight folk, that people like that man in Walmart even EXIST makes me fear for my kids and their futures.

While we may accept and support whoever our kids turn out to be, I am scared beyond words at what it would mean for them if they ARE gay. Why should anyone have to live in fear because they fall in love with someone that you or someone else doesn’t agree with? Why should mothers and fathers of gay kids have to have an extra layer of terror at night because they know that the world at large is against their child?

While debate rages on her personal Facebook page, Vyktoriah has said that she has been advised “not to say any more about the situation” after filing a report with The Polk County Sheriff’s Deputy.

You guys do realize that the story has been all but exposed as fake? The mother has a history of pathological lying and internet histrionics (faking diseases, being in disasters such as plane, train, car crashes, etc.). She already pulled her page earlier as people started questioning her story more. more info on her at the link.

That’s it? That’s all she did? Couldn’t have been my mother or my father (or me, for that matter). My parents would have beaten that man within an inch of his life for touching one of their babies. I highly suggest this woman look up “mama bear” on Urban Dictionary.

Aug 5, 2013 at 7:39 pm · @Reply ·

Snapper59

I read this story and knew immediately it was creative writing. It surprises me not it’s been exposed as fake.
Muchausen-by-proxy. She’s using her kid as a prop for advancement of her career.

Aug 5, 2013 at 7:40 pm · @Reply ·

Snapper59

“What would you have done if you witnessed such an act?”

Well, considering from the moment you exit your car to the moment you return to it that the majority of WalMart stores are filming you to prevent BS stories and lawsuits, I probably would have started with that knowledge and reported this beast to the police and store manager when it happened.

i doubted the truth of this story when i first read it. then it came out as false. but no matter, if something like this did happen(and it very well could) i would have DEFINITELY would have to say something to someone like that. i recently got into quite an argument with a guy that had a big swastika tattoed to the back of his neck. i HAD to say somethoing to him, just like i would have said something in a situation like this. i realize most ppl don’t have the nerve to say anything. but i feel like if you are witnessing something like this going on, you HAVE to say something, otherwise your silence is like consent. you’re letting that person know(with your silence) that what they are saying or doing is okay woth you. that’s how i look at it.

Aug 5, 2013 at 8:30 pm · @Reply ·

Deepdow

Wow. I’m surprised , well maybe not, at the “debate” raging on her Facebook… “you’ll thank me later little man ” … seriously..people are defending a troglodyte that says that? I would have killed him on cold blood if h e ever said that to me or one of my nephews. Note to Honky tomorrow heterosexual men that are antigay : EONE OF IS ARE LOOKING FOR ONE REASON TO MURDER YOU.

Aug 5, 2013 at 8:46 pm · @Reply ·

Snapper59

@Deepdow: I think the “debate” is that this mother who apparently coddles her kids to the point where her living is creating a blog about her efforts at motherhood would allow her child to be accosted in a public place and rather than report it immediately to store security or the police chooses instead apparently to have gone home and written a column about it and had it originally end there.

SO now she’s filed a police report. There was nothing in her original column about doing that.

Aug 5, 2013 at 8:54 pm · @Reply ·

Alan down in Florida

Just imagine that she was carrying a gun. With our (Florida’s) “Stand Your Ground Law” she could have pulled it out and killed the dude saying that she feared he would hurt her child. And it would be perfectly legal.

Aug 5, 2013 at 8:59 pm · @Reply ·

samwise343

I would have quietly followed him to his car and taken down his license plate. Then I would have insisted that the mother call the police. They can see what he did by watching the numerous security cameras. Lo and behold I have the dude’s information to provide so they can catch that sick fuck.

@Alan down in Florida: If only FL’s “Stand Your Ground” law were evenly enforced. I would have thrown a damn parade if that sick fuck had gotten shot in the face for that kind of homophobic bullshit – toward a toddler, no less.

Other than kicking his testicles into the stratosphere, and dismembering his brain stem inch by inch, I’d calmly return to my coffee and call the police. AND apologize profusely to the Mom and little guy! What a bastard!

“The man was overly large with a bushy beard and a camouflage shirt with the arms cut off. He had tattered shorts and lace-up work boots with no laces. I could smell the fug of cigarette smoke surrounding him, and there was a definite pong of beer on him.”

She just described Larry The Cable Guy.

I smell creative (but cliched) writing.

Buzzfeed stories are not newsworthy unless they are confirmed, whether it’s a “closeted gay A-List actor,” some lady claiming her child was attacked in Walmart, or someone posting a transformative experience of acceptance. IF such a story gets so big it can’t be ignored then talk about the video and its “viral” nature without endorsing its claims. Say “This is getting a lot of attention now” not “this happened.” Because you don’t know that yet.

Aug 6, 2013 at 1:35 am · @Reply ·

Kangol

Let’s try again. I got flagged for using a strong term in my post.

***

So is this real or not?

Lord knows, if any strange man or woman laid a hand on my child in a store or taunted her or him with hom•ophobic, ra•cist or miso•gynistic nonsense, that person would be LAID THE F**K OUT.

Mistreating any child, one’s own or someone else’s, is absolutely, completely unacceptable behavior.

Exactly. And the woman has removed many of her previous stories from her blog that cement the fact she inserts herself in the big news stories of the day.

Aug 6, 2013 at 9:50 am · @Reply ·

Jonty Coppersmith

So others have pointed out that this is a fake story, but it still leaves me with mixed feelings about the whole scenario. It’s great that this lady is apparently on the side of equality. One of the most important things a parent should do in raising children is to instill in them a strong sense of self esteem by encouraging them to be themselves, by praising them when they do right and lovingly correcting them when they do wrong. At the same time a parent’s very first job is to protect their children from harm as much as possible. Sadly this fake scenario would be very likely to happen in much of the country. Therefore I would carefully explain to my son that I loved him no matter what, that he could dress up at home but not out in public.

Aug 6, 2013 at 12:57 pm · @Reply ·

Snapper59

“Sadly this fake scenario would be very likely to happen in much of the country. ”

Saying that is like saying a two year old boy is likely to get hit on by a gay stranger in a WalMart.

i really wish my husband and i were there, we have a bad habit of showing people what “faggots” can do when prompted.

Aug 6, 2013 at 7:04 pm · @Reply ·

technicolornina

So, I’m aware the story is fake. But Queerty asked what I’d do, so . . .

If any asshole ever tried this on one of my nieces, THAT ASSHOLE WOULD BE DEAD. He he would be on the floor with my heel in his jewels and wondering how the hell he got down there while I relieved him of a few teeth and used his head as a doorknocker (or should I say “floorknocker?”). They’d have to get security to pull me off and he’d get another good kick in the face before I left.

I would not fucking smile and tell him I’d cut his hands off. I’D DO IT.

Shitty mother for making up the story, would have been a shitty mother if it’d actually happened the way she describes, too.

Aug 6, 2013 at 8:32 pm · @Reply ·

Damich

Katie…you must give your son the gift of truth and defense skills… while you may not be sure of his ‘sexuality’ or his gender identity perhaps…many can attest we knew as children we were different…there just werent words yet. I want to see a headline of “Gay Bashers Get theirs Asses Kicked” and not “Another Gay Bashing Turns Deadly”…so give him truth even now as young as he is that far off in adult life he will learn that adults can grow up sometimes to be hateful and mean over the silliest things and that he needs to learn ‘how to be tuff’ and defend himself. …be whatever sexuality or gender he is…give him the gift to defend himself eventually…with words…fists..or weapons if necessary. Your child lives in the real world and that’s the truth you should face sooner then later. Thats what I would do if I had a son. …maybe instead of ‘Princess’ it wouldn’t hurt to also play ‘Warrior Princess’…I wish him well.

Aug 6, 2013 at 8:51 pm · @Reply ·

Joetx

Was the a-hole Ted Nugent?

Aug 6, 2013 at 9:20 pm · @Reply ·

dbmyers

@Melanie: Any you look at it absolutely correctly! Just like bullying, if you don’t speak up you are in effect condoning the bullying. So I congratulate you on being willing to do the right thing. (I understand this is hypothetical since most here believe this is the hyped up attention getting stories of a borderline personality disorder in action). But given the hypothetical situation (and I agree it certainly is possible for such bigotry to occur), I think you have clearly the right approach. I was interested in the comment that Walmart always has security cameras filming. I would have: called the cops, called the stores security and asked the cops to apprehend and charge the perpetrator with assault against my son (using the video footage they would impound from Walmart).